Synopsis: Ace investor Madhusudan Kela acquires a 1.21% stake worth ₹18 crore in a debt-laden century-old construction firm, triggering a near 10% stock surge.
Shares of a century-old Indian construction conglomerate surged nearly 10%,after veteran market investor Madhusudan Kela acquired a 1.21% strategic stake in the company. The move has reignited investor interest in the debt-laden infrastructure firm, widely seen as a contrarian bet on its sizable order book and an underappreciated valuation gap.
With a market cap of Rs. 1,474 Cr, the shares of Simplex infrastructure Ltd. surged almost 10% from the previous day’s closing price of Rs. 170. 6 to Rs. 189.6 in the Wednesday trading session. Currently, the stock is trading at a P/E of 27.5 and has a ROE of -4.4%.
What’s the News
Shares of Simplex Infrastructures, a century-old construction company founded in 1924, surged nearly 10% on Wednesday after ace investor Madhusudan Kela picked up a 1.21% stake in the company. Kela acquired 9,55,200 shares, and at today’s intraday high of ₹189, the total value of his investment works out to approximately ₹18.05 crore.
The move has instantly reignited interest in a stock that had been battered, falling over 32% year-to-date before this week’s recovery. Kela is widely regarded as one of India’s sharpest market minds, with a publicly disclosed portfolio worth over ₹2,200 crore. His top holdings include Choice International at ₹1,220 crore, MK Ventures Capital at ₹287 crore, and Windsor Machines at ₹169 crore, making this Simplex bet a relatively small but symbolically significant move.
What makes the bet contrarian is the company’s troubled financial history. Simplex has faced losses since FY2020, poor liquidity, and debt servicing defaults, and has been working through a Master Restructuring Agreement with NARCL. The company restructured a staggering ₹10,295 crore in outstanding debt, with part of it converted into equity shares allotted to NARCL and the remainder rescheduled over an extended period.However, the tide appears to be slowly turning.
Overdue debts to non-assigned lenders dropped from ₹296.7 crore in March 2025 to ₹142.18 crore by December 2025, and the standalone debt-to-equity ratio improved dramatically from 39.25 to 1.99 in the same period.
The company also returned to consolidated profitability in Q3 FY26, posting a net profit of ₹8.09 crore against a loss of ₹11.08 crore in the same quarter last year. For Kela, the bet seems to be on the company’s deep execution experience, its diversified project portfolio, and the broader tailwind of India’s infrastructure spending push, a classic deep-value play on a distressed but recovering giant.
About the company
Founded in 1924, Simplex Infrastructures is one of India’s oldest and most diversified construction companies, headquartered in Kolkata. It executes projects across piling, power, buildings, roads, railways, marine, and urban infrastructure. With over 3,000 completed projects domestically and internationally, the company has a century-long legacy in civil engineering, though it has battled high debt and financial stress in recent years.
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